The daily life of raising 4 wild and wonderful boys and one spunky and amazing daughter.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Working Again

Big change for me. BIG! Over the summer I talked with Cam about the possibility of me going back to work. Since Cam's schedule is so great and he is home about half of the week now I could start substitute teaching again.

I waffled and went back and forth for several months. It has been thirteen years since I worked...and by that I mean since I earned a paycheck.

I had a hard time deciding what to do. I truly LOVE working hard at home for my family. I LOVE being a mom. I LOVE taking care of my house. LOVE! There is NOTHING I'd rather do.

So....I made a good old pro/con list which always helps me sort things out.

Pros:

Money....ie a paycheck

Exercise my professional skills

Add to my Social Security fund. Truthfully this was the biggest factor. After looking online at my SS statement it realized that I needed to earn some credits toward disability. Now of course I don't plan to become disabled but if I did our family would need the financial support.

Cons:

It could make my life chaotic.

I might hate it.

My wonderful hubby informed me that if I hated it, I could quit. And he reminded me that I always worry about change creating chaos. It's a process for me.

So I went ahead and decided to fill out the application. THAT WAS A HUGE PAIN!! Seriously! I did not have a resume. I couldn't remember when I went to college...I'm talking exact dates. I didn't know what years I worked at which schools. I couldn't remember what my degree minor was in. I'm serious. It was a total pain to gather and make phone calls, "hi, I worked for you once upon a time, can you please tell me the dates". Yep. Several of those calls.

Then there was the fact that the application required letters of reference. Profession references ONLY. Hmmmm....since I didn't have a job for thirteen years that was difficult. I ended up asking the amazing teachers at my kids' school to write letters for me. These are teachers that I have volunteered in their classrooms. Perfect! They actually wrote me the most wonderful letters!! They made me sound terrific and I was humbled...and I was inspired that I might actually be a good candidate.

After working on my resume and letter of intent I had Cam take a look at it. He told me to go for a walk and he'd spiff it up for me. Whoa!! He took my stale, dry, boring data and turned it into a real resume!! I love him! And in case the medical gig gets old he can open up a business doing resumes.

So after a VERY long couple of weeks gathering papers I was able to send off my application. Then another VERY long wait time while they processed it. VERY long.

But finally I was cleared and ready.

And guess what?!!! It's been amazingly fun. Seriously fun!

I am only subbing at my kids' schools. I only sub the days Cam is home. He gets Tuba off of the bus while I'm gone. I take the kids to work with me and they love it. They sit quietly and play on the computers while I read the sub notes and get ready to teach.

The best part is that because I've spent so many years as a volunteer I know all the kids. That makes the job fun and much easier. I know many of the teacher's routines and I know the way the school works. It's great!

I am working only one or two days a week so I still have plenty of time for my favorite job taking care of my family and home. It's a perfect balance.

4 comments:

I have said this to your face and now I will say it to your blog world: I am very happy that you like subbing. But mostly I am so excited for your students and their parents. The school is soooooo lucky to have you and so are the kids!

We are so lucky to have you subbing! It's always a treat to have you stop by, or even see you for a quick, "Hi!". It was pretty cute to see you popping out of kindergarten the other day, with 25 little munchkins following you into the hallway. I need to talk to you about a couple days in January . . .

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Wild at Heart Family

About Me

I'm a stay at home mom with four beautiful boys (five counting my husband) and one beautiful girl that keep me hopping and challenge me to laugh and have fun everyday. Two of our children were adopted from Ethiopia. And...our youngest two babies came to our family the same week! We are Orthodox Christians striving to live out our faith.